School Program Urges Abused Kids To Come Forward

WINTER GARDEN — Sexually abused children often suffer alone, but Winter Garden police say one of their programs is helping such children seek help.

The Rights and Responsibilities Program is presented by city police at Dillard Elementary School each year.

The program, started in 1984, teaches children they have a right to ask for help if they are abused, said Winter Garden crime prevention officer Cpl. Buddy Nash.

Recently, an 8-year-old girl who was in the program in January told authorities she had been raped. She is one of about nine abused children who asked for help after participating in the program, Nash said.

Police arrested a 23-year-old Winter Garden man who was a friend of the girl's family for sexual battery on a victim under 12 years old. The man confessed to fondling the girl and having intercourse with her twice.

''The whole idea behind it is telling,'' Nash said, adding that many abused children are threatened with more violence if they do not keep quiet. Children also may not realize they are being abused, he said.

One of the three films Nash uses, called Who Do You Tell?, starts by asking children to whom they would go for help if there were a fire. The film then progresses to more difficult situations involving parents and relatives and physical and sexual abuse.

Nash said the program is especially important in identifying sexually abused children. Physically abused children often are noticed sooner because of their outward signs of abuse, such as bruises and broken bones, he said.